Insurance & Pension Companies

Luxembourg is widely recognised as a centre for the distribution of insurance products under EU rules on the freedom to provide services. The financial centre currently hosts around one hundred insurance companies, mainly the subsidiaries of large international groups.

The insurance profession in Luxembourg is strictly regulated. All legal entities or natural persons wishing to operate in this sector must be approved by the competent minister. The conditions for this approval are designed to ensure the financial solidity of insurance companies.

All participants in and activities of the insurance sector are regulated by the insurance industry supervisory authority, the Commissariat aux Assurances (CAA), a public body under ministerial authority.

Insurance

Luxembourg insurance companies do more than 90% of their business outside the country, particularly in the area of life assurance. These companies specialise in life policies linked to investment funds, products that offer clients the combination of life cover and the prospect of financial returns. Life assurance contracts are often linked to dedicated funds, instruments that are increasingly favoured in the wealth management industry.

Non-life (property & casualty) insurance companies based in Luxembourg also mainly target the international market. This is particularly true of the maritime insurance mutual companies and other specialist insurance providers.

Reinsurance

Since 1984, Luxembourg offers a specific legal framework for reinsurance activity. Today it is the domicile of around 250 reinsurance companies, particularly captives belonging to major international industrial, commercial or financial groups.

Pensions

The law also allows for the creation of three types of pension vehicle designed principally for multinational businesses wishing to offer harmonised pension plans to their internationally mobile staff. Alternative solutions are offered by the pension funds pooling vehicle, the group insurance contract and pension trusts.